Preparing For My Sunset Years:
Part 4 of 5: A Quick Pit Stop
After putting my health first and successfully concluding my thirty year run as an entrepreneur, I have a quick pit stop I need to make.
It has always been a dream of mine to work at an Olympics. Since I am not a cold weather guy at all (shocker), it has always been my dream to work at a Summer Olympics. As a career long event producer, the Olympics are the pinnacle of events. But it’s not about putting another notch on my event career, I’ve been enthralled with them since I was a child. They are hands-down, the most inspirational event in the world. I wanna be a part of it!

As luck would have it, they are being hosted in my old backyard, where my entrepreneur career first began, Los Angeles.
For the first time in thirty years, I will have to create a resume and apply to work for someone else. What kinda job will I apply for? I’m not sure. I don’t need to be in charge, but I also don’t want to work security for badminton events either. Something in between, in logistics or management, would do the trick.
I actually flew to Atlanta right after I graduated from college to try and land a job at the 1996 Olympics. With nothing on my résumé and no network to speak of, I came back home empty-handed.
In 2012, after a significant career as an event producer, I did get recruited and offered a job as one of the four directorships to run SuperBowl 50 in 2016 at the new Niners stadium. I had to turn it down due to the demands of owning and operating the Fox Theater. I’m pretty sure you can’t list jobs you turned down on your resume as a qualification. 🙈
So, history repeats itself. When I was twenty-two years old, I packed up my Eddie Bauer Bronco II and moved to LA with a thousand dollars to my name and a dream to become an event producer. No job secured - just a whole lot of ambition and passion. It worked out pretty well.
Thirty years later, I have more resources and a pretty solid roledex to lean on, but I imagine that a lot of the emotions will be the same: butterflies, anticipation, and hopefully, a whole lot of goosebumps.
This is a pit stop I need to selfishly do for myself. I expect it to take a year or two. It’s a bucket list item I have to scratch off my list, before I can confidently step into my Sunset Years without any regrets.
It’s been a minute L.A., but see you soon my old friend!
